A federal arbitrator decided Monday to impose the same contract on Air Canada’s flight attendants that they rejected last month.

The Air Canada Component of CUPE, which represents 6,800 flight attendants at the airlines, condemned the decision, and lashed out at the federal government for interfering in the collective bargaining process.

Paul Moist, CUPE’s national president, said the flight attendants were “profoundly disappointed” and “quite angry” with the decision, but added the union would not likely appeal it.

“The federal government has set a tone for all kinds of federally-regulated bargaining,” he said. “It is extremely disappointing for flight attendants today. But it is much bigger than CUPE or the postal workers or [the Canadian Auto Workers]. There’s a chill being cast on collective bargaining under the guise of the economy.” Last month, the flight attendants rejected their second tentative agreement despite both deals being endorsed by the union’s leadership.

Mr. Moist said the rejection of the contract speaks to “a decade of frustration for all of Air Canada’s employees.”

In an effort to avoid a strike at the airline, the federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt in an unprecedented move referred their dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

But before the CIRB could render a decision, both sides agreed to put their dispute before final offer arbitration.

In her decision Monday, the arbitrator, Elizabeth MacPherson, said she had decided to impose the terms of the second contract on the flight attendants, including moving new hires into a hybrid pension plan and wage increases of 2% in the first three years and 3% in the final year.

She said she based her decision on the fact that the second agreement was as close to a freely negotiated settlement as possible and that there were no special circumstances to justify deviating from it. Although CUPE had argued that the level of government interference in the negotiations detrimentally impacted the union’s bargaining power, Ms. MacPherson disagreed.

“CUPE’s arguments might have more resonance if the content of [the second agreement] was less than that of the [first],” she said in her decision. “However, an objective comparison of the two tentative agreements reveals that the union bargaining committee did a superb job of extracting additional concessions [in the second round of bargaining].”

The union had sought additional wage increases and other work rule changes during the arbitration process, she said, while Air Canada sought only the terms of the second agreement.

Ms. MacPherson noted in her decision that there was only a 73% turnout on the vote for the second tentative agreement with 65% of those who cast a ballot voting against the deal. As a result, only 47.7% of the membership actually voted against the second agreement.

“Although, one cannot know with certainty what the thinking was of those who did not vote, it is fair to conclude that they were not so unhappy with [the second tentative agreement] that they felt compelled to vote against it,” she said in her decision.

CUPE is the second labour group to reach a settlement at the airline after an agreement was reached with its sales and service agents in June. Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada chief executive, said on a conference call last week negotiations with crew schedulers, dispatchers, and mechanics and baggage handlers have commenced, and talks with its pilots are expected to begin Nov. 23.

“Air Canada is pleased with this final and binding decision to implement the terms of the second tentative agreement,” said Duncan Dee, Air Canada chief operating officer, in a statement. “The implementation of a new collective agreement with our flight attendants ends a period of uncertainty for our customers and will allow Air Canada and its employees to move forward together.”

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